Irfan Ends Malaysia's Eight-Year Drought At ATF Championships

KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysian discus thrower Muhammad Irfan Shamsudin ended the country’s eight-year drought at the Asian Track and Field (ATF) Championships after winning a silver medal Thursday night. He finished second with a 60.96m throw in the 22nd edition of the tournament held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India. According to the tournament’s official website, www.odisha2017.games, Iran’s Ehsan Haddadi grabbed gold with a 64.54m throw, while India’s Vikas Gowda finished third with 60.81m throw. Commenting on the achievement, national athletics head coach Zainal Abas said Muhammad Irfan's success in maintaining his throw above the 60m mark was very encouraging for the country’s chances in the SEA Games this August. “Thursday's results proved that he can stand tall and challenge the best in Asia. We always knew that Ehsan Hadadi is the favourite. In fact, back in February, we tried to get Irfan to go to Iran to train with their throwers. “Unfortunately, Iran Athletics Association was not forthcoming even though the coach there had agreed to help Irfan. Anyway, congratulations to both Irfan and his coach Franc Petrovic,” he said. The last time Malaysia won a medal at the tournament was in 2009 through Noraseela Mohd Khalid, who brought home a silver in the women’s 400m hurdles event. Meanwhile, in the women’s 100m sprint event, both Malaysian sprinters had booked their slots in the semi-finals to be held Friday. In Thursday's qualifying round, national sprint queen Zaidatul Husniah Zulkifli clocked 11.79s in the second heat, while Siti Fatimah Mohamed qualified after crossing the finish line in 11.88s in the fourth heat. In the men’s 100m sprint event, Khairul Hafiz Jantan and Jonathan Nyepa also qualified to the semi final after clocking 10.28s and 10.53s respectively. Khairul’s time in the third heat was also the best time clocked at the championship so far, better than the 10.29s clocked by favourite and Asian record holder Femi Seun Ogunode of Qatar. It was also Khairul’s personal best time after clocking 10.31s to win gold at the Thailand Open last month. Another national sprinter, Badrul Hisyam Abdul Manap, however, failed to book a slot in the men’s 400m event final even after breaking his own personal best record with 47.46s at the semi final. -- BERNAMA